


to know is to be responsible for knowing

by AlexSeanchai



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Butterfly Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Chat Noir Gabriel Agreste, F/M, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Identity Reveal, Kwami Swap, Ladybug Emilie Agreste, Podfic Welcome, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Puns & Word Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 14:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19907545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: They're only half here, he and Marinette: only half of each their strength to call on, only half of each their will, and he at least is dizzy from gaining only half of every breath. Hawkmoth thought the lives of Ladybug and Chat Noir would be a fitting price to pay for the life and health of the cold-eyed woman who looks like, speaks like the mother Adrien remembers. Adrien wonders if that is why Marinette could twist the magic so the price would not be his parents' son, alone and entire.





	to know is to be responsible for knowing

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "[the truth is this: / my love for you / is the only empire i will ever build](https://gracevill.wordpress.com/2015/08/30/this-is-the-nonsense-of-love-by-mindy-netifee/)"

They're only half here, he and Marinette: only half of each their strength to call on, only half of each their will, and he at least is dizzy from gaining only half of every breath. Hawkmoth thought the lives of Ladybug and Chat Noir would be a fitting price to pay for the life and health of the cold-eyed woman who looks like, speaks like the mother Adrien remembers. Adrien wonders if that's why Marinette could twist the magic so the price would not be his parents' son, alone and entire.

His mother calls herself Harmonia now, and it makes Adrien ill to hear her talk about compelling rebels to lay down their weapons, about commanding dissenters to silence their speech, about ending war by coercing all warriors to peace: to see her wearing that black-accented carmine cocktail gown—his _Lady's_ colors! Adrien is tempted to vomit on the tuxedo his father, now Catabasis, wears: as often as Plagg has offered to Cataclysm the man, Adrien expects that indignity to be the least of his friend's concerns. He must refrain, though; he must keep their attention on him; he must—cautiously, as though he is truly being persuaded—bring them to believe Adrien's filial loyalty will bind him in the end—

A violet butterfly sidles up beside Adrien while Harmonia explains how greatly he, as Prince Adrien of her worldwide empire, could benefit Sumatran tigers—a cause he at seven felt strongly about—and sinks into the beads of the lucky charm Marinette gave him.

"You're not really in tune with any of this, are you, Harmonia?" spits Chat Calico, finding not a baton at the small of his back but a saber at his particolored hip—he can work with this. "Not surprised—you don't have the ear for it."

"We'll have that ring back, too," says Mariposa: Catabasis startles and whirls to face her, where she leans, armored in Tyrian purple with a white sash tied like wings, on a match to Hawkmoth's sword cane. "It cymbalizes far too much to us, and it doesn't match the designer handbag you're descending to hell in."

"You could have owned the world!" exclaims Harmonia, what little kindness her expression had falling away.

"You could have lived!" snarls Catabasis, his stance furious.

Mariposa flaps one hand like a talking mouth, rolling her eyes, just as he remembers seeing her do the first time they met as Marinette and Chat Noir. He was determined to impress her then, since he'd clearly failed so spectacularly when Adrien met Marinette, and he failed then too: now he knows why.

Chat Calico grins as though his head is not spinning, his stomach is not heaving, his heart is not pounding: Adrien may have broken Marinette's heart over and over again, first unknowingly and then reluctantly and always wishing it weren't so, just as Ladybug has Chat Noir's, and they may be doomed to die now, win or lose—but they are still bound by the words spoken in the moment Chat Noir fell in love. If they hold to that and they trust each other, maybe they'll win.

Maybe, he dares hope, watching her determined eyes and confident smile, they'll live, and love.

"All I need is in Paris, Catachresis," Chat says, lifting his saber with an unsteady hand, "and all I want, when my Lady's there—and _you_ may have missed this, Harmonica, but _he_ didn't: we promised our city something."

Catabasis growls at his baton. Harmonia stares in horror at her yo-yo.

Mariposa draws her sword: "And we'd hate to let them down."

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out these absolutely stunning illustrations](https://mardimari.tumblr.com/post/186595535744/ko-fi-doodles-for-alexseanchai-and-their-fic-to) by [mardimari](https://mardimari.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Find me on [Dreamwidth](https://alexseanchai.dreamwidth.org/) and [Tumblr](https://alexseanchai.tumblr.com/).


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